Snotlout began leading them towards the secret entrance. To keep themselves hidden, Hiccup cast a glamour spell around to hide them from view. They finally stopped when they reached the surface of the carven, which was quite a fair distance away.

"This is it," said Snotlout.

"A bit of a distance," Ragnar observed.

"You cannot expect the secret entrance to be in the middle of town, which could be under siege," said Snotlout.

"Fair enough."

"So where exactly is it?" Tuffnut asked.

"Yeah, all I can see is rock and more rock," said Ruffnut.

"It would hardly have a sign over at its saying secret entrance lies here," Jill pointed out.

"It's here, but dwarven doors are practically invisible unless you know what you're looking for," said Snotlout as he began feeling around against the wall. "I just hope I remember where it is."

"Please tell me you know where it is," said Astrid.

"Give me a break. It was a long time ago since I last used it," said Snotlout defensively. "Just count yourself lucky that my stone senses very acute."

"Stone sense?" Jill frowned.

"Dwarves have this sort of sixth sense when the underground they can actually feel their way through underground passages," Hiccup explained.

"Of course, it would help if everyone were quiet!" Snotlout snapped.

Everyone remained quiet as Snotlout carried along with his wall inspection; he was taking quite a bit of time. Hiccup noticed that Astrid was standing there with her arms folded, fidgeting to try to bottle in her anger.

Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to ease her. "Don't worry, we'll get through this."

"It's just that I don't want my first quest to end in failure, which could bring about doomsday," she said.

"Knowing how we all feel," said Hiccup.

"I know it might sound strange, but right now, I wish I had something to fight," said Astrid.

"Well, with any luck will be facing a firebreathing dragon that makes you feel better."

"Strangely, it doesn't."

The two of them can help but laugh.

"Ah-ha!" Snotlout cried. "I think I have it!"

He then pushed down the rock, and then suddenly they heard the sound of gears turning as the carven wall opened up, revealing the secret entrance. Judging from the cobwebs, it looked as if it had been used for quite some time, and it was so dark that they couldn't seem more than 5 feet.

"Good, now let us gets that cursed ring," said Hiccup.

They began making their way down the secret passage using the flames from Hiccup's sword to light their path. Ragnar was also providing some light which was beaming from his body which did illuminate the passageway quite a bit.

"Should we be concerned with cave-ins?" Fishlegs asked.

"Dwarfs make sure everything they build is built to last; that includes any secret passages we build," said Snotlout. "That said, we still have to make sure they're properly maintained, and this place, that is, if it hasn't been used since I used it last."

"I don't see any trouble ahead, and I don't hear any other footsteps except ours," Heather informed them.

"Unfortunately, I believe getting in is the easy part," said Hiccup.

"So, no one here has any experience when fighting dragons?" Jill asked.

"We made friends with the dragons of Midgard, but we never actually fought them."

Jill's eyes widened. "Wait, there are dragons back home?"

"Long story," said Hiccup.

"We have been taught how to fight dragons, just in case," said Astrid. "First, we have to eliminate movement by attacking its wings and tail, we can also confuse it by making noise, and it's also important that we stay within its blind spot."

"Unfortunately, we don't know if these techniques will work on a cursed dragon," said Hiccup. "Snotlout's grandfather may very well know about weaknesses that dragons possess."

"He was fascinated by dragons; in fact, he wanted to get his hands on anything dragon-related, even excrement," said Snotlout.

"Wait, you mean you wanted to get his hand on dragon poo?" said Jill looking disgusted.

"Yes, because it was potently powerful," Snotlout snickered.

"He's only messing with you," Fishlegs assured him. "Though it is true that every component of the dragon is powerful, and they do make very powerful weapons and armour."

"Average weapons word bounce off a dragon's hard hide," said Ragnar. "Fortunately, we have possession of a few weapons that are able to penetrate said hide."

"So, whose weapons will be able to work?" Jill asked.

"I asked Jurtag that before we left," said Ragnar. "He said that yours, mine and Hiccup's swords should be able to work along with Astrid's axe."

"So what do the rest of us do?" Tuffnut asked.

"Do what you do best. Be annoying and diverse his attention," said Astrid.

"Oh, being annoying is my speciality," said Ruffnut proudly.

"Everyone knows that I'm far more into irritating," said Tuffnut.

"You two are equally as annoying and irritating, just make sure you don't get yourself killed," said Hiccup and then turned to Snotlout, Fishlegs and Heather. "I think the rest of you should try to make some noise to keep him disoriented."

"Do we really have to kill him?" Fishlegs asked. "Surely we can lift the curse placed on him by removing the ring."

"I'm afraid it's not simple, Fishlegs," said Heather. "From what I understand, only the ring bearer is able to remove the ring. Which means Snotlout's grandfather is going to have to deal with his own volition."

"And considering that the ring amplifies the wearer's greed and paranoia, I don't see much chance of that," said Hiccup.

"But can't we try talking to him first?" Fishlegs asked.

"That's assuming he's in a talkative mood," said Astrid.

"Even without the ring, my grandfather was deaf to anyone's voice but his; talking to him would be a waste of time," said Snotlout.

Eventually, they exited the passageway, which was not blocked off and found themselves inside the Palace, but there was no sign of any guards. In fact, there was no sign anyone had lived here for quite some time, judging from the cobwebs that had been forming.

"This is getting a little spooky," said Fishlegs.

"We should head to the treasure room," said Hiccup.

"Why there? Why not the throne room?" Jill asked.

"Because he's overcome with greed and paranoia, so he will go to the one place where there's a lot of gold so that he can protect it from thieves," Snotlout simplified. "Follow me. I think I can remember the way."

Snotlout led the way, and still, they had not encountered anyone, not a guard, not a servant, no one.

"Not even a cleaner," Astrid observed. "I thought that there were still people working inside the Palace."

"There were, at least from the last time I was here," said Snotlout. "Not many, but certainly more than this."

"So what happened to them?" Fishlegs asked.

"I don't think we want the answer," said Hiccup.

"Because you know what happened to them?"

"Because I can guess what happened to them."

Snotlout turned round the corner, and that's when they encountered their first body. The body had already decayed, but they could definitely see burn marks, and there was enough left for them to determine that this was a woman and a servant.

"Burn marks," said Ragnar as he examined the corpse. "She died from her wounds."

"But how did she get the burn marks?" Fishlegs asked.

"King Durlin," Astrid assumed.

"But why would he kill her?" Fishlegs asked.

"Because the ring's curse has warped his mind," said Snotlout.

"There's some more bodies over here!" Tuffnut cried out further down the corridor.

"And there's a whole lot of them!" Ruffnut added.

She was right; further down the quarterly, indeed, found more bodies, but this time, they seemed to be soldiers. All of them seem to have died from the same injury as the servant.

"Guess we know what happened to the soldiers," said Astrid.

"I don't think there's anyone alive in the Palace except for the King," said Hiccup.

"He is no longer king, not if he treats his servants like this," said Snotlout.

Hiccup looked at him. "You're sure you're up for this?"

"Trust me, more determined than ever to put a stop to my grandfather," said Snotlout.

"Let's keep moving," said Astrid.

They kept on making their way further down the corridor until they entered a giant chamber. It was so giant they could tell exactly how big it was, but the new immediately they reached the Treasure room, the place was filled to the brim with gold and other precious gems. It was like looking at the river of treasure; it just went on as far as the eyes could see.

Ruffnut whistled. "That whole lot of gold."

"Nidavellir is filled with veins of gold and jewels; we've been mining the entire realm since back when we were maggots," said Snotlout.

"Back to when you what?" Jill stared.

"When Odin and his brothers killed Ymir to create Midgard, maggots began digging their way down until they reached here, and they changed into the very first dwarfs," Ragnar explained.

Jill looked as if she was going to be sick. "That's disgusting."

"That's the creation of existence for you. It's not always pretty," said Ragnar.

"Enough of the history lesson; we need to find King Durlin," said Astrid.

"He could be anywhere in here," said Fishlegs.

"Even I'm not able to see him," said Heather as she looked around. "It's possible that he is buried deep within the gold; I can only see a mile underground."

"So you're saying he could pop out anywhere at any time," said Fishlegs.

Astrid looked at Hiccup. "If we want to get that thing, we need to get him out from the surface. Any suggestions?"

"Well, I suggest that we mess around with his precious treasure," Hiccup suggested. "If he's so greed and paranoid as we are led to believe, then he will try to stop us from taking his gold."

"And burn us alive in the process," Fishlegs added.

"If you have a better suggestion, I'm open," said Hiccup.

"Regardless of what we do, we can't do it standing around here, so let's wade in," said Astrid.

They began making their way down the steps into the treasure room; Hiccup stepped onto the gold coins for the first time. He was afraid that he would fall into the sea of gold coins. However, after taking his first step, that fear immediately washed away.

"Feels strange, doesn't it, walking amongst this much goal?" said Hiccup.

"I know I feel the urge to dive in like Scrooge McDuck," said Jill.

"Hard to believe that there is this much gold anywhere in the nine realms," said Astrid.

"Anything buried beneath it is a dragon," said Heather.

"I wish you hadn't reminded us," Fishlegs gulped.

"Get yourself a backbone, Fishface," said Snotlout. "And you think your father is supposed to be the God of Courage."

"Alright, alright, let's not start fighting amongst ourselves," said Hiccup clapping his hands together. "First order of business is to find this dragon, and the best way to do that is to start taking his gold."

"So we start taking all this gold and hope that he shows up," said Tuffnut.

"And do it loudly as possible; we do have or have to get his attention," said Hiccup.

It was then they felt everything shake and saw the sea of gold coins begin to shift. Then suddenly emerging from the sea of gold was a large dragon. It had to be at least 30 feet tall and 50 feet tall in length from head to tail. It certainly resembled those classical, mediaeval dragons one would expect. It would be difficult to believe that this dragon had once been a dwarf, but the golden ring on one of its claws gave way to its identity.

"King Durlin," said Hiccup.

"Grandfather," Snotlout glared.